Return to Forest Knolls.
I got on the road around 10, heading for Forest Knolls, which is a little over 5 hours south.
As I was driving, I realized why yesterday was such a non-entity post… because I was driving to get somewhere, rather than driving to enjoy the scenery around me, and so just focused on getting there instead of immersing myself in and enjoying the process of getting there. So today, after starting out on interstate 5 south, I decided to veer off and take the back roads, at least for some of the way. Much, much better. The problem was it would then take about 8½ hours, rather than 5, to get to Cynthia’s, and I wouldn’t arrive until mid-evening. For that reason, I wish I’d thought of doing this a day earlier, as I would have stayed over somewhere along the way along those local roads, and continued through to Forest Knolls in the morning.
But I didn’t want to arrive at 8:30 or 9 pm that night, so I split the difference, and travelled on interstate 5 for a ways, and then on back roads for a while before re-joining route 5 further south, and did that a couple of times. It added probably 2 hours to the trip, but most definitely worth it.
So, after being on Interstate 5 for a short while, I go off at Weed, California (that’s right, Weed), and instead took route scenic byway 89 south for about 120 miles. So lovely.
It’s not that route 5 isn’t interesting with great scenery, but it’s flat and gets monotonous after a while, and it’s really like driving through the scenery, rather than driving in the scenery. Along that 120 mile stretch of route 89 south, through to Black Butte, I drove through Lassen National Forest, with its beautiful views, and for a while its fir tree lined roads, making the road seem like a tree-lined avenue.
The scenery actually kept changing as I headed south, including the trees and plants along the highway, before I eventually hooked back up to interstate 5. At some point, the tree lined roads ended completely, and I was instead travelling across prairie land, with beautiful natural botanical gardens decorating the fields and adorning the highway.
Along the way, I kept wondering if my new route was taking me far away from an eventual return to route 5, and I’d wind up actually not getting to Cynthia’s until late. But I needn’t have worried, as when I finally returned to route it was maybe just 10 miles away. I’d never heave seen or enjoyed the roadside scenery I did see though, or passed through the National Forest, had I stayed on 5 the whole way.
I actually got off of interstate 5 again, maybe 20 miles later, and instead took the route 5 business loop for some 20 or 25 miles before returning to I-5, which passed through a couple of small towns, including Williams. A nice little, nothing out of the ordinary, town, and classic… I saw a high school float of some kind (classic Americana), and just managed to get a quick photo before it disappeared. Couldn’t of done that on interstate 5.
By now it was getting on if I was to get Forest Knolls before 6, and I did, so I regretfully picked up the interstate, and eventually it took me into Forest Knolls, where it is once again just lovely, and Cynthia, James, and I headed to dinner in Olima. It was good being with with and talking to Cynthia. 🧡
